VoL. LX. No. 2685. 
NEW YORK, .JULY 1.3, lyoi. 
$1 PER YEAR 
SUCCESSFUL SPRAYER FOR THE PEA LOUSE 
IT OPERATES ON A LARGE SCALE. 
And Seems fo Solve the Problem. 
THE LATE SEASON.—The Green pea-louse is 
again threatening the late crop of peas. In this sec¬ 
tion last Winter was very favorable for the develop¬ 
ment of the pest, and we rather expected to see it 
make an early appearance. The continued cold, 
rainy weather of April and May throughout Mary¬ 
land, Delaware and New Jersey, however, effectually 
checked its development, and as a result, as far as we 
can ascertain, early varieties have been practically 
uninjured in these States, and in Dela¬ 
ware nothing but early peas were plant¬ 
ed. On May 16 the writer was able to 
find but a single louse on peas here and 
there after a most careful search, and 
failed to find them on clover entirely. 
But the rapid power of reproduction of 
this pest was then well shown. On June 
5 the same fields were examined, and 
most of the terminals of Alaska were 
■well stocked with lice, and Blue Beauty 
vines were well covered. The former va¬ 
riety was ready to cut, so that no injury 
was done it, and the latter was so nearly 
made that any injury would have been 
slight. Had any late peas been planted, 
however, they must have been inevitably 
as seriously injured as during the past 
two seasons. The absence of the lice on 
tlie clover in May is of interest, and 
raises some questions concerning the life 
history of the pest, which probably will 
need further study as regards its migra¬ 
tion from one plant to another. 
NEW SPRAYER NEEDED.—In The 
R. N.-Y. for June 10, 1900, we gave an 
account of the Pea louse, and then men¬ 
tioned that we were experimenting with 
spraying kerosene and water mixture. We 
found that 15 per cent kerosene was inef¬ 
fectual against the louse on a hot day, 
evaporating so rapidiy that no injury 
was done the lice; 25 per cent, however, 
killed all the lice it hit and did no in¬ 
jury 10 the vines as far as we tried it— 
on about one-fourth of an acre. Almost 
all of the lice were killed by the 25 per 
cent kerosene, which was very thorough¬ 
ly sprayed over the vines from an at¬ 
tachment to a kerowater pump covering 
four rows at once, with one nozzle to 
each row. But knowing that the kero¬ 
sene at this strength would probably do 
considerable injury when used on a large 
scale, no further tests were made with it. 
Our work convinced us that with four 
nozzles to a row, so that the vines could 
be thoroughly sprayed, and with the 
pump geared to the wheel of the cart, the 
Pea louse could be combated success¬ 
fully, even on a large scale. We were led 
to give attention to the possibility of 
profitably spraying for this pest on account of the 
fact that some growers had not been successful with 
the brush and cultivator method, it failing to destroy 
a very large percentage of the lice brushed off on cool 
(lays, or on stiff soil forming lumps when cultivated, 
furthermore, it is evident that in brushing, using 
either the cultivator or pan drawn between the rows, 
as the young lice in the buds are not disturbed, 
though very large numbers of the adult lice might 
be destroyed, especially when they had become nu¬ 
merous, it would be impossible to check the develop¬ 
ment of the first brood of the pest by brushing, as 
might be done with a spray which would reach and 
destroy the young lice securely resting between the 
terminal leaves. We therefore planned to construct an 
attachment for a barrel sprayer which would cover 
several rows with several nozzles to each row, and 
had submitted our plans to several spray-pump com¬ 
panies, when we learned through James Good, of 
Philadelphia, the manufacturer of whale-oil soap, 
that Messrs. Brakeley, of Bordentown, N. J., had con¬ 
structed a satisfactory sprayer, and had last year suc¬ 
cessfully combaJ;ed the Pea louse, using about 140 
barrels of whale-oil soap. Upon corresponding with 
Messrs. Brakeley we learned that they considered 
their sprayer entirely satisfactory; after having 
sprayed a large acreage, and saved their crop by 
means of spraying last year, that they had duplicated 
their order of last year for 140 barrels of whale-oil 
soap, and intended to spray their whole crop of over 
500 acres this year. Feeling satisfied that these men 
must have solved the problem of spraying the Pea 
louse, and as it was doing no damage to early peas 
in Delaware, we dropped the matter of constructing 
a sprayer, and awaited with interest a promised pub¬ 
lic exhibition of their machine. On May 13 Messrs. 
Brakeley kindly invited a number of persons inter¬ 
ested to inspect the working of the sprayer in the 
field, among whom were Dr. J. B. Smith, New Jersey 
State Entomologist; E. J. Judge, of The Trade, of Bal¬ 
timore, a prominent Philadelphia dealer in canned 
goods, and the writer. 
A BIG MACHINE.—At a distance the sprayer looks 
something like a large grain drill. It consists of a 
large tank containing a simple pump, with air cham¬ 
ber on top of the tank, which is attached by gearing 
to one of the two wheels of the sprayer. Beneath the 
tank are pipes leading to nozzles, and the guides and 
lifters for holding the vines while they are being 
sprayed. The sprayer covers three rows at once, the 
peas having been planted in this way, but the in¬ 
ventors think that planting two rows at once and 
having a machine covering two rows 
would be preferable. As the sprayer 
passes along the vines are picked up by a 
wooden V-shaped fork, and pass between 
parallel iron bars which hold them up¬ 
right. These bars are movable so that 
they do not tear the vines. Above each 
row is a cluster of three nozzles—Bor¬ 
deaux nozzles are used—one directed for¬ 
ward, one backward and one straight 
down. On either side of each row are two 
nozzles, one dire«ted forward and one 
backward, and just above the ground is 
a nozzle on either side directed upward 
so as to give the vines a thorough under 
spray. The nozzles with the pipes and 
guides can all be thrown up about a foot 
by means of a lever, permitting the turn¬ 
ing of the sprayer. The whole plan of the 
machine is simple and practical. It can 
be readily understood from the accom¬ 
panying illustrations. Pigs. 204 and 205. 
VERY EFFECTIVE WORK.-Messrs. 
Brakeley were just finishing a 24-acre 
peafield, upon which six sprayers had 
been working half a day, when we ar¬ 
rived. The vines were about 15 inches 
high, being Champion Jr., a medium 
sweet wrinkled pea. The lice were not 
very numerous, although almost every 
bud had a small family of fast-maturing 
young. The vines were very thoroughly 
covered by the spray, and as nearly as we 
could approximate it from 80 to 90 per 
cent of the lice were killed; had they been 
thick fully 95 per cent or more must in¬ 
evitably have been destroyed. On May 20 
Mr. Brakeley wrote me that he could find 
but very few lice in this field, which is 
about ready to cut. Whale-oil soap wa.s 
used at the rate of one pound to six gal¬ 
lons of water. It had been used more di¬ 
lute, but it was found that a larger quan¬ 
tity of spray was required to be as ef¬ 
fectual, and it was better therefore to use 
it stronger to avoid handiing so much 
material. When the vines are small 
about 160 gallons, and when nearly full 
grown 300 gallons, are used per acre, 
which at three cents per pound for soap 
would mean $1.50 per acre for the ma¬ 
terials. The soap was readil.v mixed with 
cold water, one barrel of soap being mixed to form 
three barrels, and this then dipped into the tanks, 
in which it was diluted and carried to the sprayers. 
The water for the tanks was pumped from a small 
brook, which had been dammed up, by means of a 
traction engine. One tank carried soap for each 
sprayer. With these six sprayers, six tanks, engine 
and three extra men, 50 acres a day are sprayed at a 
cost of $42.50 for labor and $75 for materials, or a 
total cost of $2.44 per acre. This may seem a good 
price to pay for combating the Pea louse, but when 
one spraying will ensure a first-class crop of medium 
and late peas, while otherwise they would be of in- 
.■Tv 
NEW SPRAYING MACHINE FOR PEA LOUSE. Fig. 204. 
TANK FOR HOLDING THE SPRAYING MIXTURE. Fig. 205. 
